Kaos with his single-minded ambition to destroy Skylands has once again come up with a plan to do just that. This time around, he has re-discovered the ancient and powerful, Mind Magic, used to build Skylands long ago. Using the Mind Magic, Kaos has created an army of Doomlanders.

In response to this horrible threat, Eon has called upon Portal Masters to command the Skylands’ mystical warriors, the Senseis to stop Kaos and his Doomlanders. The Senseis alone will not be enough though; Portal Masters will need to use their imaginations to create their own Skylanders to help the Senseis stop Kaos.

Skylanders: Imaginators doesn’t shake up the core Skylanders gameplay making it easy to jump back into the game. The latest twist on the formula comes in the form of “Imaginators”, which are Skylanders created by players using Imaginite Creation Crystals in the Portal of Power. Players can customize the name, voices, powers, look, color, and size of their Imaginators after choosing a battle and elemental class.

Skylanders: Imaginators.

Players can share their Imaginators with other players using Creation Crystals and can find more powerful body parts throughout the game. The game also adds 31 new Senseis to the game including 11 villains from previous games. Senseis have powerful attacks they can perform called “Sky Chi”.

The PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game come with exclusive characters and content when purchasing special “Crash Bandicoot” editions of the game. The edition includes Sensei figures of both Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex, and feature a special Crash level called Thumpin’ Wumpa Islands.

Batman: Return to Arkham – PS4, Xbox One – October 18

After a few stumbling blocks, the remastered collection of the first two Batman Arkham games is finally coming out. Developed by Virtuous, Return to Arkham sees both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City remastered using Unreal Engine 4.

Batman: Return to Arkham.

The new coat of paint upgrades the graphics of both games with better models and environments, and improvements in lighting, effects and shaders. Both games will also include all the previously released downloadable content.

Civilization VI – PC – October 21

The classic series about building a lasting empire returns with Civilization VI. Once again players will take on a visionary leader to establish their civilization from the Stone Age to the Information Age. You will face off against history’s greatest leaders to prove who has the best civilization. How players go about asserting their power is up to them. Will you wage war, engage in diplomacy, export culture, or show off your technological prowess?

Civilization VI.

New to Civilization VI cities will now physically expand across the map giving a more dynamic look to the game. Active research in technology and culture will unlock new potential for a civilization. “Combined arms” is a new approach to combining units to explore the game’s tiles. Now leaders can make combinations of units unlike before and form powerful “Corps” units. Competing leaders in the game will pursue their own agenda based on historical traits adding more strategy to how you approach the five routes to victory.

Battlefield 1 – PS4, Xbox One, PC – October 21

Unlike previous Battlefield games, Battlefield 1 approaches the single-player campaign differently. Instead of telling a singular story from the perspective of one character, Battlefield 1 tells several short stories from a number of different perspectives and characters caught up in The Great War. This results in an anthology of War Stories.

One of the War Stories is Through Mud and Blood about a British Mark V Tank crew. Danny Edwards is a thrown into the deep end as the tank’s driver. He has no previous experience in war let alone driving a massive modern war vehicle. Hell, he was a chauffeur before the war. Danny will need to use his knowledge of driving and fixing things to help learn how to drive a tank and how to earn the trust of his fellow crew members.

The War Stories will also follow real-life historical figures exploits during World War I. One of those stories involves following Lawrence of Arabia as he and the rebel forces take on the Ottoman Empire’s giant armored train, “The Canavar”. In Battlefield 1, you’ll take on the role of an Arab rebel, who is Lawrence’s right hand. She is instrumental in helping the rebel succeed by scouting enemy encampments, liberating necessary equipment, and drawing out “The Canavar” for the final battle.

Battlefield 1.

The single-player campaign was also designed with Battlefield’s multiplayer philosophy in mind. Resulting in much more freedom in how players choose to tackle objectives in the game. It isn’t so much about having a concrete plan in mind, but what happens when the plan falls apart. How do you recover from things going awry?

Battlefield 1’s World War I setting results in locations and weaponry authentic to the Great War. Players can use bolt-action rifles, flamethrowers, mustard gas, and more to fight opponents. One of the big changes comes in form of melee combat. It has been re-worked with new melee weapons joining players’ arsenals like sabres, trench clubs, and shoves. Armored vehicles like tanks, battleships, armored trucks, biplane aircraft, and zeppelins are available for players to use, or go so old school by riding horses into battle.

Multiplayer plans to support 64 player battles with a new squad system that allows groups of players to join and leave matches. Nine multiplayer maps will come in the form of WWI locations. It also offers six modes including Conquest, Domination, Operations, Rush, Team Deathmatch, and War Pigeons (where players secure war pigeons to call down artillery strikes).

Kalvin Martinez

Kalvin Martinez studied Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He writes reviews, prose and filthy limericks. While he is Orange County born, he now resides in Portland, OR. He is still wondering what it would be like to work at a real police department. Follow Kalvin on Twitter @freepartysubs